Fiocchi Ammunition

Fiocchi Ammunition

The Fiocchi Ammunition company has a storied past, one that includes failure, bank foreclosure, and Napoleon’s army. One of the founders – Giulio Fiocchi – was a bank manager tasked with overseeing a loan that was made to a manufacturer of muskets and black powder. The manufacturer defaulted on the loan, forcing Giulio to ride to Lecco, Italy and investigate the situation.

Although Giulio was not familiar with guns or gun powder, he had keen intuition that there was an opportunity to be seized. After consulting with his brother, Giacomo, they purchased the fledgling company. Musket production was ceased, and in 1877 they created the Fiocchi Ammunition empire.

Part of the company’s success has been incredible worker loyalty. In 1904 the Fiocchi family built houses for their workers, paid sufficient wages, was one of the first companies to hire women, and even built schools and nurseries for the workers’ children – all of which still stand today in their original purpose.

During World War I, Fiocchi Ammunition was a main supplier of ammunition to the Italian army. After the war, Fiocchi Ammunition continued to flourish despite the rest of Italy falling on hard times. During World War II, the Fiocchi Ammunition factory was seized by the Nazi regime. The Nazis attempted to destroy the plant, but Fiocchi workers managed to protect most of the facility. Within a year following the war and with the assistance of their 1,500 workers, the facility was completely reconstructed.

Although the war was tragic, the rebuilding of the Fiocchi Ammunition plant allowed for modernization of the equipment and the development of new technology that would prove useful. While other companies were struggling to rebuild, Fiocchi had a leg up on the competition, which allowed it to gain a large market share.

Today, Fiocchi Ammunition is widely renowned for the quality of their product. Fiocchi Primer Poppers / Blank Poppers are useful for gundog or field test training, and are indeed the primer of choice in HRC Hunt Tests. No other primer provides both realism and volume of a shotgun, without any projectile, in the same manner as Fiocchi Ammunition.